Free Republic

Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. "He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30. But Spherion Corp., the temporary staffing company where Amschwand worked, told Amschwand-Bellinger she would not receive any of the $426,000 in benefits she believed she was due. When she went to court, Spherion succeeded in getting her lawsuit thrown out. The Supreme Court on June 27 refused to review...

When it comes to paying the skyrocketing bills for health insurance, Californians are feeling more pain than the average American. The average cost of premiums jumped 8.7 percent in 2006 -- outstripping the 7.7 percent increase in premiums nationwide, according to an annual survey released Wednesday by the California HealthCare Foundation in Oakland. That's more than double the 4.2 percent rate of inflation in California. And chalk this up as a bitter side-effect: Single California workers no longer pay less than the rest of nation for the favorite type of health insurance in the state. That news has widespread impact....

The government is extending NAIS and similar regulations to household pets. Pets are already included in the form of horses, pot bellied pigs, llamas, fish and pet livestock. Some states are expanding the definition beyond the USDA's original list to include dogs, cats and caged pet birds. NY Bill A09775 applies to cats & dogs. PA SB865 applies to any domestic animals. MD HB709) applies to any domestic birds. Read more in this article. RI seeks to spay and neuter all cats. Los Angeles seeks to spay and neuter all dogs. You can bet good money that within a few...

Before it was terrorism. Then it was mad cow disease. Now the government is using fears of Avian Influenza (H5N1 or bird flu) to scare people into accepting reductions in their freedoms and more government control over our lives. The latest trampling of our constitutional rights is in the form of Premise ID and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Maryland has bill HB709 to register all domestic birds including pet birds. Vermont is pushing Premise ID for bird flu prevention. ABC plans to do a TV movie about Avian Flu. Everyone wants in on the fear mongering....

Today the Vermont House Agriculture Committee met with USDA represenative Dr. John Wiemers by telephone regarding the USDA's proposed draft of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I greatly appreciate the questions raised by the Committee members to the USDA representative Dr. Wiemers this morning. They clearly pointed out the double-speak of the USDA which is being very slippery about this and other issues related to NAIS and Premise ID. The USDA is trying to reassure people out of one mouth while their other mouth, and written word, says something very different. The April 2006 USDA documents make the program...

McDonald's Greed I recently read the rather interesting article "McDonald's exec: BSE testing adequate, ID needed" with interest. A market driven program is the way NAIS should be done. If you wish to sell a product you must produce it to the buyers specifications. Unless you have a virtual monopoly like Microsoft but that is a different issue. “We feel very strongly about animal ID. From our expectations (of NAIS), yesterday would have been a better timeline” to implement the mandatory ID system." -McDonald’s Corp. spokesman Robert Cannell The confusion is that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) should NOT...

Americans are living in a time when access to obstetrical care is an important topic in politics. Obstetricians are leaving practice in high numbers because of insurance rates which reflect the high number of lawsuits families are filing. This is a sign that the time has come for fellow Americans and politicians to recognize that Professional Midwifery Care has the potential to help resolve many of the concerns American mothers have in maternity care. How can midwives help the current state of maternity care and cost in the US? The cost benefits are evident of many levels: Beginning with prenatal...

On Monday, December 8, 2003, President Bush signed into law a Medicare prescription drug benefits package designed to help American seniors pay for their medications. This month, the Kerry campaign released a TV ad attacking President Bush’s Medicare record stating, “The very next day George Bush imposes the biggest Medicare premium increase in history while prescription drug costs still skyrocket.” There are several problems with this ad, namely that fact that 1) Kerry skipped the December 8 vote and 2) Kerry voted to support the increase in Medicare premiums that he now criticizes. The Kerry campaign offers no specifics on...

Health care costs continued to surge this year as family premiums in employer-sponsored plans jumped 11.2 percent, the fourth year of double-digit growth, according to a new study. The cumulative effect of rising health care costs is taking a toll on workers: There are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were in 2001, according to the survey of 3,017 companies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. --- snip --- "Health insurance is becoming unaffordable, especially for small employers. We should expect the ranks of uninsured to grow...

Health insurance premiums in the United States are heading up again next year -- and sharply, according to a major insurer and new data from large employers. Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest HMO, said yesterday that its members in the Washington area -- numbering more than 500,000 -- can expect an average percentage increase in rates in the "mid teens" next year. "The increases will range from 4 percent for some plans to 35 percent for others," said Susan Whyte Simon, a Kaiser spokeswoman. Like other insurers, California-based Kaiser says it is responding to increased medical and prescription-drug costs. Across...